James Randi comes out

[Meeker Morgan]

Not that isn't wasn't already widely known, but now official.

At 81. Better late than never.

http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/914-how-to-say-it.html

[Orrex]

1. Good for Randi!

A tireless champion of fact and intellectual honesty.


I'm glad that he finally feels able to come out, and I'm sorry that circumstances took so long to let him get to this point.

[katandmoon]

3. Actually...no, he's not. He's quite intellectually dishonest. He's a champion only of his own biases

[Orrex]

4. Way to piss on the parade

He's no friend of pseudoscience or bullshit psychic frauds, if that's what you mean. Nor does he care overmuch for the worthless snakeoil peddled as "alternative" "medicine."

Beyond that, do you have a specific example to cite, or are you just taking a pot-shot?

[katandmoon]

6. Here's an article I just posted in another thread.

http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/whoswho/Randi_dogs.htm

Just one example I've read over the years, a relatively minor one. He is anything but an impartial researcher.

[Orrex]

7. I've read his debunkings of so-called "ESP dogs." What's the problem?

No one doubts that dogs perceive things that humans can not, but there's no evidence that they have some kind of paranormal ability in this regard.

Additionally, Rupert Sheldrake is very far from an impartial voice. If you're seeking to question Randi's credibility or intellectual honesty, you'd be much better off picking a more objective advocate.

For instance, his stance re: dog ESP is that it exists, regardless of any lack of evidence or evidence to the contrary. That's hardly objective or reasonable. He's made a very profitable career out of selling the notion that dogs are psychic, yet he's never put forth any serious evidence that doesn't boil down to wishful thinking and anecdote.


We can continue this via PM or in another forum, but I won't drag this out further here, since it has little to do with the OP.

[Q3JR4]

9. +1

Q3JR4
What Orrex said.

[Ken Burch]

11. Should we actually BELIEVE that Randi is gay?

In his case it could be a hoax, you know...

:evilgrin:

[Ian David]

13. Do you need to mop vinegar and water off the floor after your douchebaggery? n/t

[Deep13]

17. His "bias" is anti-bullshit unless you have something specific to point to.

I've never known him to be, for example, a shill for libertarianism like prominent skeptics Michael Shermer or Penn Gillette.

[eleny]

2. The Amazing Randi...

I always enjoyed his debunking and also his radio show in NYC back in the '60s.

[TlalocW]

5. Big fan of his

Met him, got his autograph, have traded emails back and forth, read and re-read all his books, even went and had some fun at a psychic fair armed with knowledge and attitude I got from him.

Never knew he was gay, but I always looked at him as almost asexual, just because romance seemed so not to be part of his life unlike say his louder, taller clone, Penn Jillette, who is every bit the skeptic and debunker Randi is but throws how much he loves sex with females in your face more than a marcher in a gay pride parade lets you know how much he or she likes sex with the same gender. In Penn and Teller's books, oftentimes the tricks and stories written by Penn have some sort of sexual slant to them - stories about sex shows in Times Square, tricks to seem romantic with the purpose of getting you laid, etc.

Teller has remarked that their stories about the same thing are often different because Penn tries to put sex in them like when they were street performers and didn't have a power source for their lights they wanted to use as it was getting dark. Teller apparently charmed a nearby hot dog vendor with magic tricks to let them plug into his station, but Penn would tell you that the vendor let them use his station because he (Penn) was fucking the vendor's daughter.

TlalocW

[Q3JR4]

8. I was surprised to read the news.

Way to go Mr. Randi!

Q3JR4.
James "The Amazing" Randi is one of my heros.

[radhika]

10. Now if only he'd stop reneging on his UFO Challenges n/t

[Deep13]

19. I assume you mean challenges to present real evidence of UFOs.

When has he done that?

[Ian David]

29. Every time Radhika beams-down into Randi's office from the Neblar Cruiser. n/t

[Ian David]

12. You beat me to posting it here. Anyway, here it is in the Skeptics forum

Amazing! James Randi is Gay (Sylvia Brown didn't predict THAT, either).
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=247x28711

[Ian David]

14. See also: James Randi's podcast about racial injustice in Segregated Florida

It's a funny story of a young, socially-conscious magician bucking the Jim Crow system.

Segregated Florida
June 26th, 2008

An up-and-coming magician named James Randi comes face to face with segregated Florida in the early 1960s. Also, hear about Randi’s travels over the past month.

Also, here is the link to the Randi portrait taken by internationally beloved technology pundit Andy Ihnatko and mentioned at the beginning of the podcast.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=265623794

More (Including MP3 download and streaming):
http://itricks.com/randishow/?p=25

[Ian David]

15. Not really "Late." He's still younger than McCain. n/t

[dr_johnsons_dog]

16. Good luck to him and I hope he can start believing in something now

As someone with a strong interest in the paranormal I have long been disturbed by Randi's fanatical skepticism that actually reflected a hermetically sealed mind - one that admitted no possibility of a spiritual dimension. With this announcement I can see that his ideas about spirituality and the "possible" must have been tainted at a very early age by, no doubt, traumatic encounters with Organized Religion. Personally I have no use for Organized Religion of any type, but Randi has always gone to the other extreme and seemed to make a faith of non-belief.

It always takes courage to publicly represent oneself, and I hope this gives him some measure of peace, especially in his older age. Hopefully we are approaching a time when NO ONE feels the need to "come out" as they will never have to hide who they are in the first place.

[Deep13]

18. Why is it so important to "believe in something" ...

...especially if you mean something supernatural.

[dr_johnsons_dog]

22. Well, you don't have to, but he has always seemed very bitter

to me. Just a very negative person about anything that involves belief. There are plenty of things I don't believe in personally, but if other people do, I don't generally care, or try to debunk their stuff or harrass them about it. He's made it a point of pride to demolish anything having to do with any spiritual or supernatural beliefs, and I've found that when people do that, it's usually the result of very negative Organized Religion experiences in the past. I wish him well.

[Q3JR4]

21. I'm sure he WOULD start believing in something supernatural,

if you had conclusive, double-blind, repeatable, scientific tests that showed the existence of whatever it is you wanted him to believe in. Also it would net you a cool $1 million.

Seeing how after 14 years that hasn't happened, I don't see it happening any time soon.

Q3JR4.

[dr_johnsons_dog]

23. The problem with the paranormal or supernatural in testing

is that you are not dealing with subjects that necessarily abide by the same physical laws as the usual material world stuff. The paranormal generally deals with anomalies, which by their nature, are not repeatable, especially under lab conditions. The supernatural or paranormal things I believe in...are things that I've actually experienced. I could tell stories, but this isn't the forum. However, bottom line I don't think you can use materialistic scientific standards for things that are essentially of a spiritual nature.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

24. i honestly hope he doesnt turn superstitious. nt

[joeybee12]

20. Let me say this about James Randi...

...I have no freakin' clue who he is.

[mitchtv]

25. nor I

[Ian David]

28. Sure you do...

James Randi on Happy Days
http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/jref-news/176-james-randi-on-happy-days.html

James Randi on The Tonight Show
http://www.needcoffee.com/2008/05/05/james-randi-tonight-show/

[begin_within]

26. It's just a phase.

kidding

[Ian David]

27. UPDATE: James Randi Comes out at age 81 (Podcast Interview)

UPDATE: James Randi Comes out at age 81 (Podcast Interview)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=221&topic_id=157841&mesg_id=157841